Cleaner spaces mean less rats

The affinity of rats for human settlements is based on access to food, writes Charlie Talbot in response to recent articles on the Diary.

There appears to have been an amount of dumping into the stream which runs by the playground and community centre — one of the photographs which was posted on the Diary a few days ago shows an amount of what appear to be soft-drinks cans close to where the rats have been seen.

Anything with sugar in it is going to be of particular interest to rats particularly in the winter time when they need the calories. Rats have a very good sense of smell, and discarded food substances attract them. If there are indeed soft-drink cans beside the stream, you can bet that there are also half-eaten sweets, chocolate wrappers etc.

No self-respecting rat would pass up an opportunity for such a 'feast'.

EDITOR'S NOTE: It may seem that we are labouring the issue of rats here, but this is a timely contribution, and highlights the fact that we humans ourselves are largely the reason why we have such vermin close to us. The hedgegrows along Nicholastown, and the river bank along the Valley park, are also places where drinks cans and other similar detritus are regularly discarded. The solution is clear: keep our public spaces as clean as we do our homes, and we will minimise the problem.